Re: Why
do acronyms con so many?

Sorry, Toots.
My recollection was correct as you will see below. Plus, the rebuttal does make
an irrefutable point. No need ever existed to ship manure by boat. The logic of
this somewhat clever manufactured etymology is flawed. I know my dugans.

: : : : In the 16th and 17th centuries, the export of
agricultural goods was exclusively by ship. Thus, in the days before commercial
fertilizers had been invented, large shipments of manure to customers overseas
- mainly farmers and growers - were quite commonplace. To cut costs, manure would
be shipped 'dry', since in dry form it weighed much less than when wet. However,
when it came into contact with either water or seawater, it not only became heavier,
it also acted like a catalyst, switching on the process of fermentation, the major
by-product of which of course is methane gas!

: : : : Because the dry, compressed
sacks of manure were always stored below decks often close to the bilges, you
can imagine what could - and did - happen. Methane gas began to accumulate in
those dark, confined quarters below decks, once it came into contact with seawater
that leaks into every ship's bilges (bilge water). When the 'bad smell' was detected
above, a rating would typically be sent below with a candle-lantern to check out
where the smell was coming from, with the inevitable result: BOOOOOM!!

: : :
: Many ships were destroyed in this way, before an astute quartermaster (who had
heard about explosions in coalmines) finally figured out that it was the flame
of a candle igniting the methane gas - gas that had built up in the damp, often
soggy confined spaces below decks - that had caused so many ships to suddenly
explode and sink to the bottom of the ocean. After that, exporters of manure were
legally obliged to stamp all bundles of the material with the words "SHIP HIGH
IN TRANSIT", thereby advising ship loaders to stow the hard manure bundles sufficiently
high off the lower decks to ensure that any bilge water that (inevitably) leaked
into the hold would not come into contact with this volatile cargo.

: : : :
This is generally believed by etymologists to be the true origin of the word "SHIT",
and the word has come down through the centuries and is still in common parlance
to this very day. Interestingly, the expression "Just going for a leak" is also
thought to date back to the same time when those same merchant seamen used to
inform a ship's officer that they were about to leave their post on board ship
in order to go below and trace the bad smell emanating from deep within the bowels
of the ship!

: : : : And I always thought the word 'SHIT' was a golf term!

:
: : "Generally believed by etymologists to be the true origin"? Sorry. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the word back to Old English and beyond. It was not
an abbreviation.

: : ***large shipments of manure to customers overseas - mainly
farmers***
: : On a more practical note, why would a farmer want to import
organic material when it was probably all around him or readily available from
his buddy down the road a piece?

: One can (apparently) get people to believe
the most outrageous etymologies if you wrap it up into an acronym and a story,
however implausible it may sound. Witness s.h.i.t., g.o.l.f., p.o.s.h., and other
recurring themes around here. It's the presence of the acronym that makes people
bite. Why? A few words do come from acronyms, mostly technical (radar, e.g.) and
almost all from the past 70 years.